Only after my father's death could I speak my own individual truths about him. In a sense, I had to turn him into a character, a figure I could control through language.

I think that the people who really accomplish things in this world have to have a little bit of crazy in them.

I like when a poem ends on its "receipts," meaning it gives me something tactile or tangible to dwell on as I exit the reading experience. So I strive to end my own poems that way as well.

I write to be recorder, observer, participant, and sometimes, even judge. I want to engage the world as I see it with my whole self - all of those different aspects of it.

I switch between fixed forms and free verse often, and enjoy being a poet who can "swing both ways," so to speak.

Poetry is such an ancient art, and I consider myself young within that art.

I write a lot, and then forget what I've written, and then come back to it and say, "Not bad, I should do something with this!"

Part of elegy is confrontation - not just with the idea of death, but with the person who has died.

I lived a life I knew I had to hide My father's edicts resolutely grim.

Editing is work, and it's hard to do while working on one's own writing.

When you say you are losing it, it actually means you are losing faith in yourself.

When you live as I do, you cannot indulge in jealousy. If you do, it will rip you apart.

Stop what you are doing. Go outside and breathe. The world will not end if you take ten minutes for yourself.

At my core, the glass isn't half-empty, it's not even what I ordered in the first place.

Beauty can afford to laugh at distinctions: it is itself the greatest distinction.

Our government has no integrity!

Celebration is my attitude, unconditional to what life brings.

I am the King's Fool. He is the King-In-Wating. Let him wait.

If you're getting harassed, it's not helpful to know that racism has generally declined in America, when you're still experiencing it. That is a reality that we're still vulnerable to.

I'm a health-food junkie, so all of my food is a splurge, money-wise!